115 replies to this topic

[DPRoberts]

I have a question maybe one of the veterans around here could answer. Any idea on the distance between the ball and the player on Low Camera view? I ask because the grass is rendered a distance forward to the camera.

I have a way that I'll figure it out if no one knows, just looking to save a step and some testing.

[DPRoberts]

 (post 1 of 3)

Better performing, better appearing 3DG?

 

Just running a few experiments...

I have to say that I am in absolute awe of Manila Southwoods and cannot wait for any kind of release where I can at least F5 around. Birdie has helped keep the energy flowing around here and I always like to pay those vibes forward to maybe encourage others milling about. Looks like RobC is cooking up something great with Arcadia, jspirate is getting his feet wet the 3DG, and Skunky is plowing through his catalog with ease. 

 

I am showing a 3D grass with a smaller render distance against a better background texturing completed via CF Layers Library. The performance is coming from less grass meshes being rendered via Falloff and Fade distance. However, the illusion would not be possible without the texturing as fade is around 10m. This is very similar to what EA did with Rory's golf game. My only *asterisk* here is that I did remesh with Instant Meshes. So, the settings may not exactly work for your production but you should be able to bump the Max Density or Density Falloff to get very close. I just don't like the dense grass triangles around the bunkers. 

 

In game results (grass shadows OFF for these images...last post has final images)

 

The Layers Library is composed of 2 BW detail textures (shared below) and the Grass NRM 1 that comes with CF custom LL

 

The first detail texture tiled at 5 is from SketchupTexture Club. I am also using this on the Fairway example above tiled at 2m. I have to say that this is one of the better grass ones in that the tiling isn't super obvious in the manner that I've been able to use it.

 

The second detail texture is tiled at 25 and is a curves and Substance modification of one of Slewin's green textures that he originally shared with his Overlay Tutorial thread 

 

Here's how the textures appear as they get layered...showing only the First Detail texture at 5m tiling

 

Now, the Slewin texture with it...

 

And, finally, the 3d grass on top...

[DPRoberts]

(post 2 of 3)

The point here is that the 3d grass is not providing the entire illusion. The grass can be thinned a bit and the render distance shortened. Here's how much grass is being laid down...

 

And the final result...

 

Grass material settings

 

As always, 

Enjoy!

[DPRoberts]

(post 3 of 3)

Lastly, since we have freed up some GPU room, we can now add shadows back in to the grass mesh

[Buck]

Looking sweet

[Birdie]

Will definitely check these when on my PC tonight as this looks promising! I also think the key is a carefully balanced relation between grass distance and density, color, texture and normal matching and tiling and of course this grass wants shadows.

[Skunky]

So DP this is how the grass looks not buried.the blend is almost perfect with the overlay,and this plays 50 to 60 FPS ,and i play at 4k.Of course you can only play with dynamic sky off,which i prefer anyway.was just wondering if others would care about only being able to play with dynamic sky off.thanks for  posting these settings and textures.

[DPRoberts]

Skunky, on 21 Sept 2019 - 03:12 AM, said:

So DP this is how the grass looks not buried.the blend is almost perfect with the overlay,and this plays 50 to 60 FPS ,and i play at 4k.Of course you can only play with dynamic sky off,which i prefer anyway.was just wondering if others would care about only being able to play with dynamic sky off.thanks for posting these settings and textures.

Skunky, I could be mistaken but I do not see any difference between my grass lowered and not lowered.

I use the Geom file change and have the grass generate exactly 0.15 above the mesh. Think, if we lower the mesh 0.15 in the y direction and every blade is generated exactly 0.15 higher, it will be no different.

The test would be on the slopes around bunkers. I can try and prove this at some time this weekend.

[Skunky]

DP ,i thought i was using geom file change as well ,but i  guess im not,when i bury mine its under the terrian,i will rewatch your video. thanks.

[DPRoberts]

Skunky, on 21 Sept 2019 - 12:47 PM, said:

DP ,i thought i was using geom file change as well ,but i guess im not,when i bury mine its under the terrian,i will rewatch your video. thanks.

Let me know if you have issues. I can always re-record something. Those tutorials are painful to listen to, volume low and too much yammering.

Should be in this video. Not sure what I say but put your mesh at -0.15 in the y and do the shader change and it should work.

[DPRoberts]

[Skunky]

ok i rewatched ,went in and looked at the geom file and sure enough it was not changed.i know i did the change when i first bought the grass shader .so what changed was when i started a new project and picked the shader on the project page,it reimported the shader into the project without the fix.thats why i have had a devil of a time with the shader.i will have to go into each project and change the geom file again.so warning to others,when you start a new project ,dont reimport shader from asset store.duh!!!!

[DPRoberts]

Ok, good to hear that it's fixable.

After you get your courses up to date, I would use a project with updated Geom file and put all your newly imported grass textures and materials into the Stixgames folder. Then, select the Stixgames folder and export it as a package.

This way, in all your new projects, you can import and be ready to go without reinventing the wheel. Been there, done that...

[NoPutt]

Hey DP, did you use the "dilate many times" in PS to get this image?

and maybe an alpha channel? 

Inquiring minds want to know.

[DPRoberts]

NoPutt, on 23 Sept 2019 - 7:35 PM, said:

Hey DP, did you use the "dilate many times" in PS to get this image?

and maybe an alpha channel? 

Inquiring minds want to know.

 

Yes, I did. Nothing gets by you. Are you possibly dabbling in the grass these days? Would love to see "the Olde Farm" get the 3DG treatment. It looked like a plush landscape. 

 

But, I'm still not sure something like this would prevent jspirate's issues on the other thread. I'm certain I had the same problem with a well made texture. 

[NoPutt]

I have been dabbling, but not Ye Olde Farm as that

was dropped into the hay baler.

Saw the other thread, almost looked like a layer or channel

that didn't make it to the finish. 

I love your 1 texture experiments, really helps

around the bunkers and pot ponds. 

It's tough to start a course knowing you guys

are making 3DG improvements daily..lol.

[Skunky]

ok DP,this is after i got the geome file replaced,pretty happy with it, its 1 texture,good thick coverage,and increased FPS to boot

[DPRoberts]

When you finally get your overlay to color your grass blades, the stubble disappears! 

[Birdie]

DP, the shot is a little dark to clearly see it on my phone here at work. But can't wait to see it on my monitor tonight. Probably another groundshaker!
And time for an in-depth-striptease...

[RobC]

Nice look...I am struggling with it framerate wise with that much grass...